Photographs have been used as a marketing tool almost as long as cameras have existed. In fact, the first use of a photo in an advertisement can be traced back as early as 1843 in Philadelphia.
Marketers quickly realized that a photo could make an advertisement more eye-catching. They also realized that photos could convey information more quickly than text – in some cases, being all that is necessary to sell a product (how many of us have been lured into buying a burger or ice cream at a restaurant because of a mouthwatering photo?).
Of course, photos in marketing have come a long way since the early days of black and white images in newspapers. This article takes a look at some of the biggest photography innovations that have transformed marketing.
Color photography
The first color photograph was taken in 1861. However, color photographs would not appear in advertisements until the 1890s, and did not become popularly used until the 1950s.
Although many marketers could see the eye-catching effect that color has, it was notoriously expensive to shoot and print color photos up until the latter half of the 20th century. It was mostly larger brands that were using color photos in posters as they could afford to do so (such as automobile manufacturers and cigarette brands).
The 1950s also saw the release of the first color TV commercials. It’s worth noting that few people owned a TV at this time and those that mostly owned black and white TVs, so the first colored TV commercials were only seen by a privileged few.
Digital cameras
The origins of digital cameras can be traced back to the 1970s. However, they did not become popular until the 1990s.
Digital cameras allowed photographers to take much more photographs than a film camera, while also being able to instantly see the results on a screen instead of having to wait for photos to be developed. They would also open up the door for photo editing and the ability to upload photos onto the internet.
Photo editing
Photos would regularly be edited before appearing in advertisements even in the early days of photography. Marketers realized that it was necessary to edit photos to make them appear more attractive. However, this editing process had to be done physically – often by dying or directly drawing on a physical photograph.
Digital photo editing software sped up the photo editing process and made it easier to experiment with editing techniques. The most revolutionary photo editing software was Adobe Photoshop, which was released in 1990. By the turn of the millennium, most commercial photographers were using Abobe Photoshop to doctor images.
Of course, photo editing technology in advertising has created a lot of controversy over the years. Excessive digital doctoring of product photos has led to accusations of ‘false advertising’ in some cases – a prime example being L’Oreal’s mascara adverts in 2013 that exaggerated the effects of the make-up. Many adverts containing photoshopped models and celebrities have also been accused of encouraging unattainable beauty standards. This backlash has led to some companies using less photo editing in order to give their products a natural appeal.
Image compression
Once images started to be stored digitally, being able to compress the file size of these images became necessary so that they did not take up too much space. Different image formats were slowly introduced that allowed image file size to be reduced without reducing image quality. JPEG, introduced in 1992, would gradually become the standard image format because of how well it maintained image quality.
Various techniques for compressing images further would slowly be established, which became important when using images on websites as it allowed webpages to load faster. Search engine algorithms would later make image file size an important SEO factor – being able to compress high definition photos became important for web designers not only to reduce the loading time of web pages but to increase these web pages’ rankings on Google and Bing.
Stock photo sites
Before the rise of stock photography, companies had no choice but to pay for custom photoshoots. Stock photo companies made things easier by providing a library of generic photos that could be used for various commercial purposes. The first stock photo companies consisted of physical photo archives that were time-consuming to browse through. Stock photo websites made organizing and finding images easier by allowing photos to be labeled with keywords.
The first online micro stock photography provider is thought to be iStockphoto (now iStock). Soon there were many other stock photo sites – some of which provided free photographs. Such photos are most commonly used in blog content, social media content and display ads.
Stock photos remain popular today. That said, a growing number of companies have been rejecting stock photography in recent years in favor of original photos taken through personalized photoshoots. This is because stock photos can potentially become overused and cliched, creating a bad impression on a company that uses them. Original photos are protected by copyright law and cannot be used by any other company without their permission.
Smartphones
Smartphones have encouraged us to take more photos and to share these photos online. Not only do all smartphones contain a camera, but they are constantly connected to wireless internet allowing photos to quickly be uploaded from any location.
Not only has this allowed business owners to take photos at events and share them online, but it has encouraged more customers to take photos and share them online. Consequently, customers can now serve as advocates, helping to promote your business. That said, the potential for negative publicity is also greater as customers can also easily share photos online of faulty products or other issues with your company.
Smartphone cameras have been getting better each year and this has allowed better quality photos to be taken. Some business owners have even found that they are able to capture their own product photos using nothing more than a smartphone. That said, many business owners still prefer to hire a professional photographer as there is a lot more to product photography than having a decent camera.
Social media sharing
Social media has become one of the top platforms for companies to share information about their company with the world. This includes sharing photographs to help demonstrate the quality of one’s work.
Photographers, tattoo artists, cakemakers, interior designers and craft businesses are just some of the companies that have benefited greatly from being able to share photos of their work on social media. For these companies, social media has become a public portfolio for attracting new clients. By paying to promote posts or simply using hashtags, companies can further grow their audience by increasing the amount of consumers that stumble across their work online.
360 degree photos
When displaying product photos online, it is important to provide photos taken from different angles to encourage consumer trust. 360 degree photos are a fairly modern form of photography that are able to capture a 360 view of a product. Such technology allows customers to view items of clothing from different angles or take virtual tours of hotel rooms simply by dragging a cursor across the image.
Such photos are fun and interactive and they are becoming more commonplace on websites. A 360 degree camera is the best tool for taking these photos, however there are other ways to take 360 degree photos.
Drone photography
It used to be a case that the only way to take aerial photographs was to rent a helicopter. Nowadays, it’s possible to use a drone instead. Using a top quality drone such as the DJI Matrice 350, commercial photographers are now able to take photographs from heights and angles that were never possible before. This has had a big impact in marketing niches such as real estate advertising and travel advertising.
Drone photography has helped many companies to get more creative with promotional photography, while also adding more of a cinematic flair to marketing. The decreasing price of drones has encouraged more commercial photographers to experiment with this tool.
Artificial intelligence
AI has been around for a while, but in the last few years it has been evolving at a rapid pace. Many fantastic AI tools have been developed for photographers – the most recent and most impressive being Adobe Photoshop’s ‘Generative Fill’. AI art has meanwhile enabled images that look just like photographs to be automatically generated simply by entering a few text prompts.
What impact could AI have on the future of photography within marketing? There are many possibilities, and some companies have already started to explore these – including saving money on unique stock photos by instead creating AI-generated images. It is possible that as AI images become more realistic and as prompts become more accurate, more companies will abandon stock photography. We may even start to see AI-generated product photos. This could threaten commercial photography as we know it as it becomes easier to enter a few prompts rather than hire a photographer. Alternatively, AI and photography may find a way of working in harmony, helping to take commercial photography to new exciting places by speeding up editing work.